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Utah police officer kills four family members, then himself

A Utah police officer who had complained of marital problems shot and killed his wife, their two children and his mother-in-law before committing suicide, authorities said on Friday.

Police in Lindon, Utah, asked their colleagues in the neighbouring town of Spanish Fork to check on patrol officer Joshua Boren, 34, late on Thursday because he had not shown up to work his night shift, authorities said.

Officers who looked through a window into the lighted front room of Boren's unlocked, two-story house saw blood and spent handgun cartridges on the carpet, said Spanish Fork Police Lieutenant Matt Johnson. The town is about 50 miles (80 km) south of Salt Lake City.

Police searching the home also saw pools of blood on a stairway leading to an upper-level bedroom, where they found the bodies of Boren, his wife Kelly, 32; son Joshua, 7, and daughter Haley, 5. Boren's mother-in-law, Marie King, 55, had been killed in an adjacent bedroom.

Boren's co-workers on Friday told investigators he had complained of marital woes in recent months but had seemed "upbeat" at work earlier in the week, Johnson said.

"There was nothing on the outside to show that anything was going on. Co-workers and acquaintances said he and his wife were having problems, but it didn't seem too severe, certainly nothing that would trigger this tragedy," he said.

No suicide note was found in the home, Johnson said. Neighbours told investigators they had not heard gunshots and were not aware of any unusual activity at the home.

Boren had been a deputy sheriff in Utah County for seven years before being hired by the Lindon Police Department last October, Johnson said.